The Wedding
The group met at the shrine, all the females in their sailor fuku except one in a long white dress, a man in a tux and two very special cats. It was a beautiful night and the moon was in its full glory. "Are you ready?" Usagi asked, all the others nodded, but none quite as enthusiastically as Hotaru and Chibi Usa. They stood in a circle holding hands, the excitement running through them was electric. And then the whole group was gone.
On the moon the group appeared at the ruins of a castle. The senshi let go of each other's hands and Haruka and Michiru stepped into the center of the circle in front of Serenity. They faced their queen; she looked regal in her white gown and angelic wings. She smiled at the two in front of her. "We are gathered here today on our home to join in marriage two soldiers who's love has survived in life and death, battle and peace. We all know their fierce loyalty to each other, and look to them when we wonder what true love is." Serenity glanced from the couple in front of her over to the only man in the group and her eyes shined for a moment. "The ideals you have lived everyday, do you here in front of your family, promise to always live everyday? Do you vow to love only each other and no other, to care for each other in sickness and injury, to persist when things get hard, to always support each other, these things you have done many times over do you promise to continue doing forever?" there was a finality to the last word, it was not a till death do you part, it was a vow for eternity. Haruka and Michiru turned and looked into each other's eyes and agreed "Forever". "Exchange rings" They slipped rings made from a meteor onto each other's fingers. "By the power vested in me by the moon, in the name of love I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may now kiss." Michiru lept into the kiss throwing her arms around Haruka. Haruka welcomed the embrace and returned it full force. "Mama" Hotaru exclaimed. There was giggling from all the women. One by one the solder family congratulated the newlyweds. "We should get back to earth and have a party" The queen said sounding more like her earthly self and less like the refined queen she had just emulated. Once again the group stood in a circle and held hands and disappeared.
The group arrived one by one with their presents at the house of the outer senshi. The garden was decorated and a feast set out, the moon lighting the party on the warm summer night. Haruka dressed in her best slacks and a relaxed button up shirt and Michiru wore a light white sundress. Makoto had spent the day cooking with Michiru so there was great excitement about eating right away. A great big blanket was laid out on the grass to eat on and Usagi and Minako sat down with two heaping plates each. Light conversations buzzed around the group, many regarding the extreme change from Queen Serenity to Usagi followed by light hearted giggles. "Open presents!" Yelled Hotaru and Chibi Usa suddenly halting all conversations. Everyone but Uasgi and Minako had finished eating, and all agreed it was time for presents.
Haruka and Michiru went to the present pile and sat next to it. The first present was from Makoto, Michiru carefully unwrapped the perfectly wrapped blue paper with an aqua bow, she smiled at the thoughtfulness of even the wrapping. She pulled out a book and flipped through the pages it was a hand written book full of Makoto's best recipes and cooking tips and pictures of some of the final dishes and pictures of Michiru, Haruka, Hotaru and Minako cooking various recipes together. Michiru smiled and went over to her friend and gave her a big hug "thank you so much for giving us a piece of you, it is a perfect present." She went back to sit by Haruka with her eyes a little damp.
Haruka picked up the next present. "From Rei" she read out loud. The small bag was deep red with orange tissue paper and looked like fire coming from her hands. Haruka pulled out two small boxes one with her name and the other with Michiru's. She handed the box to Michiru and they opened them. Haruka pulled out a pair of opal cufflinks and Michiru pulled out a pair of matching earrings. "Thank you Rei, a gift as elegant and refined as you are. We have an event next week and these will go perfect with our outfits" Haruka said. Michiru nodded her head in agreement "they really are beautiful, thank you so much"
"Pick mine, mine next." Hotaru said. "Which one is yours?" Haruka teased. Hotaru put her hands on her hips "you know very well which one is mine papa." Hotaru said. Haruka looked at the presents pointing to each "This one? This one?" Michiru picked up the heavy purple box giving a slight warning but loving look to Haruka. "Thank you mama" Hotaru said relieved "open it together". Michiru held the box on her lap and slid her finger under the tape; Haruka grabbed the newly released piece of paper and ripped it off revealing a brown box. Haruka peeled off the rest of the paper and Michiru opened the box and pulled out a lamp. It was a tiffany style lamp with a scene of waves between the sky and the ocean. "Oh, Hotaru where did you find it?" Michiru asked. "I couldn't find one, so I had one made, I really wanted to give you this, nothing else would do." Hotaru said with a smile, very pleased with her present. Haruka went over to her daughter and gave her a big hug, "you are the perfect daughter" she whispered into Hotaru's ear. When she sat back down in her seat her eyes were brimming with tears of joy, she quickly wiped them away.
Usagi's gift looked like it fit in any wedding it had white paper with lace printed on it. She felt a little silly when she had seen everyone else's wrapping and even sillier when she had seen their presents inside they were all so personal. Haruka picked up the white box. "No don't" Usagi called out. Haruka lifted an eyebrow "Why?" "It's a silly gift, unwrap it when no one is here to tease me" Usagi pleaded. The whole group started urging them to open the present. Usagi droped her head into her hands "Sorry princess I must listen to the masses" Haruka ripped the paper off the clothing box and lifted the lid, her cheeks reddened a little. "What is it Haruka?" Michiru asked as she peered into the box. Michiru started laughing and pulled out two skimpy nighties. Whoops and hollers came out of everyone but Usagi who buried her head deeper into her hands. "A lovely gift, I can't wait to see Haruka wearing one. Thank you Usagi." Haruka's face reddened more "yes thank you princess, and I have learned sometimes I should listen to you." Michiru put the nighties back in their box bring back a bit of the calm from before the box had been opened.
Minako's gift bag was orange with a big red bow holding the handles together. "Is it safe?" Haruka asked. "Of course it is" Minako teased "I am the sailor scout of love and beauty, not midnight romps" Haruka handed the bag to Michiru. She pulled out a CD with Minako on the cover. "It is my new CD, open it up" Michiru pulled off the plastic and pulled out the cover book "To M and H, Thank you for showing us all true love. This album is for you and all you taught us how to feel." Michiru read out loud. "Oh Minako it is so sweet. Are we really so important to all your love educations?" She asked the group, they all nodded "You are so perfect together, it shows us you never know where you will find love" Makoto said. "it is either you or Usagi and well you two are much more stable than she ever will be" Rei said. "She gets better I promise" Chibi Usa said. "We all want what you have and everyday we see you together we are reminded it is out there. I try to make my relationship with Mamaru like yours, when I am confused I go to you for advice" Usagi said. "You do?" Mamaru spoke up for the first time. Usagi blushed "sometimes". Haruka explained "Don't worry it is nothing big, just Usagi being, well Usagi. Thank you Minako we didn't realize how much our relationship has affected all of you."
Michiru picked up a dark green envelope and opened it. "Setsuna, really?" Michiru asked a bit awed. Haruka pulled the slip of paper out of the envelope, "A vacation? Really? No work? Just the two of us? For a whole month?" "You are both so busy I found a way to make sure you both have time off at the same time." Setsuna explained. "Setsuna, you are not supposed to use your power unless you have to." Usagi scolded. Setsuna cooly replied "yes I could have used my power, it would have been easier but instead I used my head. I talked to Haruka's agency and Michiru's recording company and we found time for it to work. I will have Hotaru all to myself for a month" She winked at Hotaru "I put in effort to make it work, maybe you should practice that quality princess?" "So whose presents do we have left? Mamaru, Chibi Usa, and Ami." Michiru said hastily. "How about ours?" Luna the cat spoke up, she was sitting next to Artimis.
"You got us a gift?" Haruka asked. "Well kinda" Artimis explaind "you know how we suggested you go to the moon to have the wedding? You had to be transformed to get there and we made it so your wedding rings are now a part of your uniform when you transform. Happy Wedding" "Thank you both, that means a lot to us. It really does." Michiru said. "Even the cat's gift was more thoughtful than Usagi's" Chibi Usa whispered to Hotaru. Michiru looked at Chibi Usa "Our princess married us on the moon, so that even if our wedding is not legal on most of earth it is legal at our home, that is a great gift, thank you princess." She finished her sentence smiling at Usagi.
Haruka picked up the pink box to relax the mood once again "And what did you bring us Chibi Usa?" Chibi Usa looked at Setsuna and back to Haruka "you have to read the card and follow the directions" Seeing the exchange with Setsuna Haruka knew this was not a gift to not follow directions with. Michiru leaned in closer to Haruka and they read the card on top silently to themselves "show no one". Haruka lifted the lid enough for just she and Michiru to see the contents. They both gasped, looked at each other and closed the lid and looked around at all their friends, seeing them just a little differently. "A wonderful present we will treasure it always" Haruka thanked Chibi Usa and nodded to Setsuna. Everyone was curious but knew if it had to do with Setsuna and Chibi Usa it probably came from the future and was not to be messed with.
"Not hard to follow that gift right?" Mamaru said. "Maybe a little" Michiru said as she picked up the black box with a rose tied to it. "Please be kind, it is very hard to shop for two people who have everything you could think of already." She loosened the rose and opened the box inside was an antique tea set. "I know it is not as personal as everyone else's but I thought you could use it to relax and unwind. The tea ceremony is very therapeutic. And I know you have gone to tea ceremonies before so maybe you know how to hold one yourself." Mamaru tried explaining. "We do enjoy a nice tea ceremony, now we will have to make a tea house in back, a perfect new project. What do you think Michi, Hotaru, Setsuna?" Haruka asked. "Sounds great" "I love it" "you build it, I'll enjoy it"
The last present was from Ami her wrapping was simple two pale blue packages tied together. Haruka slipped the smaller package out and handed it to Michiru and untangled the larger one out of the ribbon. They opened them at the same time one was a photo book the other a DVD. They flipped through the photo book and shared their favorite pictures with the group. There were even a few as sailor scouts. "How did you get these pictures?" Michiru asked. "My visor takes pictures and video. It is your story" "Should we go inside and watch the DVD?" Haruka asked. Everyone was excited to see what Ami had made.
They moved the party inside to the living room, Michiru set up the DVD and got slices of cake to hand around. Haruka stood up in front of their seated guests "Thank you all for coming to our wedding. It was as far from traditional as all the people involved. You went to the moon and back to support us and we are glad for it, you are our family and we love you all dearly. We appreciate your gifts and the love you gave with them." Michiru stood next to her wife and held her hand. "And now I give you our story as told by Ami" Michiru led Haruka to an empty space on the floor big enough for the two of them.
They watched battles they had forgotten about and stolen kisses they didn't think anyone had seen. Dates and group get-togethers, holidays and birthday parties, days at the beach and everyday moments that were perfect. Car races and concerts, by the end everyone had tears sliding out of their eyes. "Michi I think we might have a stalker." Haruka laughed a little. Michiru laughed back a little "you must have spent so much time on this Ami, it is amazing." "How much video do you have?" "Is there any of me?" "Do we always look so awesome when we fight?" "Yes I have video of everyone, I started using it to study what our strengths and weaknesses were to improve them, then I just liked having the videos of everyday stuff." Ami explained blushing at all the attention so suddenly. "It really was an amazing gift but, I am afraid you need to make one for everyone now" Haruka said. "I'll help if you want" Makoto offered. "Thanks, I'll take you up on that, it's a lot of video to go through." Ami accepted. Michiru smiled a mischievous and knowing smile at Haruka, her wife forever.